Daejeon features twenty-three research institutes. Best known among them are the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), a leader in nuclear power, the Electronic and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) whose WiBro technology has been adopted as the international standard for 3G wireless communication, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), developer of the KOMPSTAT satellite program and the National Fusion Research Institute which just unveiled the KSTAR nuclear fusion reactor.

In 1993, an international exposition (Expo '93) was held at Daejeon. Several landmarks such as the Hanbat Tower and the Expo Bridge were built at this time. After the exposition ended, the grounds were refurbished as Expo Science Park. Next to the park is the National Science Museum, which had moved to its current location in 1990.[3]

Daejeon is a center of transportation in South Korea, where two major expressways, Gyeongbu highway and Honam highway, and two major railways, Gyeongbu railway and Honam railway, are joined. Travel time between Daejeon and Seoul using the high-speed railway system, otherwise known as KTX, is about fifty minutes. The nearest airport to Daejeon is Cheongju Airport, about a thirty-minute drive north of Daejeon.

A subway system with five lines is undergoing planning and construction in Daejeon. The first part of this system, Daejeon Subway Line 1 began operation on March 16, 2006, and entire line was operating as of April 17, 2007. It is notably different from the system used in Seoul in its smaller car width; lack of doors between cars; fewer number of cars, use of four cars to a train instead of ten; and free space under the seats.[4] The subway also uses round tokens instead of flat magnetic tickets as is the case with Seoul — the tokens are pressed into a sensor when passing the turnstiles, and inserted into a slot on the other side when getting out. The nature of the tokens allows them to be used for advertising as well.[5]Platform screen doors are installed in the subway stations.

Daejeon has become the recipient of the country’s effort to decentralize certain ministries of the national government. The middle of the city or the new central business district called Dunsan is where the effort has manifested itself. Newer apartment complexes, albeit structurally similar to that of the rest of the city, sprung up around the new government structures being constructed concurrently in just a few short years starting from the mid-1990s. Newer municipal buildings including the city’s courts and the provinceʼs main parliamentary building soon followed. The result is a several square mile neighbourhood full of restaurants, standard Korean western-type bars and coffee shops. The area is a place for the workers of the new Daejeon to live close to their offices, most able to walk to work, and dine and shop in a new urban environment.[manba kerak]